F-35 IOC in 2015? Not fucking likely!

via Bloomberg (Aug 20, 2014).

The start of rigorous in-flight testing on the initial software for the Marine Corps version of the fighter is already five months late, and may be further delayed by the flight restrictions imposed on the 20 test aircraft and 79 training jets after an engine fire on an Air Force F-35 on June 23.
“Many test points remain blocked or difficult to achieve because” of the flight restrictions, Jennifer Elzea, a spokeswoman for Pentagon director of operational testing Michael Gilmore, said in an e-mailed statement. “This may cause further delays in completing” testing of the software, she said.

Hmm.  5 months late for the testing of the initial software for the USMC.  The daddy of the F-35 Amos heading out the door this Oct (THANK GOD!!!!!!), a grunt getting back in the big chair... Added with the probability that the Republicans will reclaim the Senate and "spending discipline" will be imposed (hopefully)....all adds up to the Marine Corps delaying the IOC for the F-35.  But this is to be expected.  The US DoD has been pursuing exotic weapon systems and has been failing everytime.  Check out what USMC 0802 said on the post about the GVX.

All of this points back to the same basic problem in all weapon procurement which is that we only green light leap ahead systems.
Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, Future Combat System, and all of the other systems that were supposed to be leap ahead technologies that failed.
Joint Strike Fighter, Lightweight Small Arms Technology, DDG1000, Littoral Combat Ship. All of these systems are behind schedule and massively over budget. All were supposed to be ground breaking technologies that have instead taken forever to make it out of development and massively under delivered on the original promise.
Instead that has left us with yet another upgrade on the AAV7, plummeting readiness rates on F/A-18s and AV-8Bs, and a assault rifle that continues to come in near last place in every competition to name just a couple of the legacy systems that we continue to use. This leaves our warfighters using weapons systems that were designed before they were born because the replacement is always just another couple of years away and is always just a couple of years away.

Sidenote.  Has anyone noticed that we still don't have a reported cause of the fire...only speculation?  Has it escaped your attention that the F-35 is still operating under flight restrictions?  Amos was going to pencil whip the plane into service.  I don't see Dunford taking those kinds of unnecessary risks with the lives of Marines flying an airplane that hasn't completed flight testing.

This should be on the wall of every General Officer in the Pentagon that deals with procurement....

“Putting the F-35 into production years before the first test flight was acquisition malpractice,” said acting Pentagon procurement chief Frank Kendall

The above statement is the closest thing we've seen to a government official admitting wrong doing when it comes to this project...but it won't be the last.

People will go to jail over this boondoggle.

I'd bet bodyparts!